In many electronic environments, it is necessary to connect electrical leads printed on thin flexible sheets of insulating material to related electrical leads on printed wiring boards. The present invention arose from a desire to simplify such connections with respect to the construction and fabrication of computer keyboards. Such keyboards often include membrane switching assemblies associated with manually depressible keytops. The electrical leads from the thin flexible membrane switch assembly must be connected to a printed wiring board containing control electronic devices associated with the keyboard. The electrical leads are carried to the circuit board by a "tail" comprising a sheet of flexible insulating material having traces printed on one side that lead to conductive surface pads across one of its edges. The pads on the tail must securely engage a printed wiring board having traces that lead to complementary conductive surface pads along one of its edges.
Conventional connectors for printed wiring boards are both bulky and relatively expensive. They require a number of fabrication steps to mount them on a printed wiring board and attach to the flexible membrane and switch. The present connector clamp, installable in a single step and presented as a unitary product, replaces as many as 34 parts in a typical connector as presently used in this industry. By reducing the number of parts requiring fabrication and control, higher reliability in the desired electrical connections can be assured.